WEBVTT WISE, 40/29 NEWS. PAIGE: TONIGHT, WE’RE LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE MAN WHO DIED WHEN A SINKHOLE OPENED UP ON THE SPRING RIVER. THE FAMILY OF THE MAN WHO DROWNED SAYS THE 64-YEAR-OLD FROM SERCY WAS TRYING TO HELP BOATERS WHO WERE SUCKED INTO THE SAME WHIRLPOOL THAT KILLED HIM. HIS FAMILY SAYS HE WAS AN AVID OUTDOORSMAN AND HAD DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO HELPING ADDICTS READJUST TO SOCIETY AFTER REHAB. HE ACTUALLY WAS ON A FLOAT TRIP WITH A GROUP OF MEN FROM THE LIFE RECOVERY CNTER DURING THE ACCIDENT. >> HE JUST, HE LOVED HELPING PEOPLE AND HE WAS GREAT AT IT. THIS WAS WHAT GOD SENT HIM HERE TO DO AND HE FULFILLED HIS MISSION, AND GOD PLUCKED HIM UP AND HE TOOK HIM HOME. PAIGE: THE ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION SAYS IT PUT UP BUOYS AROUND THE SINKHOLE AND CREWS HAVE ROPED OFF THE AREA WHERE THE WHIRLPOOL IS LOC

An Arkansas man was killed trying to help others caught into a whirlpool on the Spring River.Donald Wright, 64, from Searcy, Arkansas, died Saturday at Saddler Falls along the Spring River, said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. At least one other person was injured.Wright's daughter, Selah Neal, said he was trying to help other boaters who had been sucked into the same whirlpool."He loved helping people, and he was great at it," Neal said. "This was what God sent him here to do, and he fulfilled his mission, and God plucked him up and he took him home."Sinkholes are common in the northern half of Arkansas, where subterranean limestone erodes away easily. Small whirlpools are common where bits of land extend into waterways, but having a sinkhole open a whirlpool in the middle of a stream is uncommon."I've been here for 40 years. This is the first one I've ever heard forming in a river like this," said Bill Prior, a geologist supervisor at the Arkansas Geological Survey.___THE RIVERThe Spring River was flowing normally Saturday - fed by Mammoth Spring, the second-largest spring in the Ozark Mountains. Its steady flow, at about 356 cubic feet per second (enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every four minutes), makes it desirable for basic training on kayaks and canoes."Classes are often held on the Spring River because Mammoth Spring has such a reliable flow," said Jonathan Gillip, field operations chief for surface water at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Little Rock.Dead Man's Curve has the occasional switchback, falls and pools, but isn't terribly turbulent, said Rocky McCollum, owner of Spring River Camp and Canoe. Boaters avoid it mainly to take a short cut around the switchbacks - but doing so Saturday put them on a portion of the stream where the river bed gave way."There are thousands of sinkholes across the northern part of the state," Gillip said. "This is an active one that people happened to see collapse, and it had a traumatic impact."___THE WHIRLPOOLSaturday's whirlpool was both instantaneous and thousands of years in the making. The Spring River eroded harder rock above an underground cavity, and when the river bed gave way, it created a vacuum that sucked the water in a "pretty strong vortex," Prior said.Rachel Ratliff, Rocky McCollum's daughter, rented canoes to Wright's group and said Wright was wearing a life jacket and was an experienced kayaker. "But the river is stronger than any life jacket there is," she said.If the sinkhole system were closed, the water would drain into the cavity and eventually refill enough to kill the whirlpool. But because there's no change at the river gauge at Hardy, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) downstream, the whirlpool is likely diverting water back into the river, Gillip said.___IMPACT ON TOURISMRatliff has 60 boats, all of which she rented out Saturday before the accident. She said she's seen no cancellations yet for the upcoming weekend, though she's not sure word has gotten out. People have been calling regularly to check on the safety of their route and to change it if they were uncomfortable.The Spring River, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock, remains open. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission warned prospective boaters to stay away from the whirlpool, which is marked off by buoys and ropes.___Follow Hannah Grabenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hgrabenstein(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

An Arkansas man was killed trying to help others caught into a whirlpool on the Spring River.

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Donald Wright, 64, from Searcy, Arkansas, died Saturday at Saddler Falls along the Spring River, said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. At least one other person was injured.

Wright's daughter, Selah Neal, said he was trying to help other boaters who had been sucked into the same whirlpool.

"He loved helping people, and he was great at it," Neal said. "This was what God sent him here to do, and he fulfilled his mission, and God plucked him up and he took him home."

Sinkholes are common in the northern half of Arkansas, where subterranean limestone erodes away easily. Small whirlpools are common where bits of land extend into waterways, but having a sinkhole open a whirlpool in the middle of a stream is uncommon.

"I've been here for 40 years. This is the first one I've ever heard forming in a river like this," said Bill Prior, a geologist supervisor at the Arkansas Geological Survey.

___

THE RIVER

The Spring River was flowing normally Saturday - fed by Mammoth Spring, the second-largest spring in the Ozark Mountains. Its steady flow, at about 356 cubic feet per second (enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every four minutes), makes it desirable for basic training on kayaks and canoes.

"Classes are often held on the Spring River because Mammoth Spring has such a reliable flow," said Jonathan Gillip, field operations chief for surface water at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Little Rock.

Dead Man's Curve has the occasional switchback, falls and pools, but isn't terribly turbulent, said Rocky McCollum, owner of Spring River Camp and Canoe. Boaters avoid it mainly to take a short cut around the switchbacks - but doing so Saturday put them on a portion of the stream where the river bed gave way.

"There are thousands of sinkholes across the northern part of the state," Gillip said. "This is an active one that people happened to see collapse, and it had a traumatic impact."

___

THE WHIRLPOOL

Saturday's whirlpool was both instantaneous and thousands of years in the making. The Spring River eroded harder rock above an underground cavity, and when the river bed gave way, it created a vacuum that sucked the water in a "pretty strong vortex," Prior said.

Rachel Ratliff, Rocky McCollum's daughter, rented canoes to Wright's group and said Wright was wearing a life jacket and was an experienced kayaker. "But the river is stronger than any life jacket there is," she said.

If the sinkhole system were closed, the water would drain into the cavity and eventually refill enough to kill the whirlpool. But because there's no change at the river gauge at Hardy, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) downstream, the whirlpool is likely diverting water back into the river, Gillip said.

___

IMPACT ON TOURISM

Ratliff has 60 boats, all of which she rented out Saturday before the accident. She said she's seen no cancellations yet for the upcoming weekend, though she's not sure word has gotten out. People have been calling regularly to check on the safety of their route and to change it if they were uncomfortable.

The Spring River, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock, remains open. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission warned prospective boaters to stay away from the whirlpool, which is marked off by buoys and ropes.

___

Follow Hannah Grabenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hgrabenstein

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)